The pandemic might be over, but the era of video meetings is not going anywhere. To ensure you are at your productive best in such meetings and juggle between multiple windows and documents, Google has been continuously improving Meet with useful new features. In June 2022, the company addedpicture-in-picture mode to Google Meeton Chrome, the perfect tool for the multitaskers among us. Earlier this year, Google was spotted testing advanced picture-in-picture capabilities for Meet, which are now going live.
Until now, Google Meet’s PiP window only displayed controls for turning your camera and microphone on/off alongside the button to exit the meeting altogether. Going forward, this won’t be the case. The enhanced picture-in-picture box will now show controls for raising your hand, turning captions on/off, the ability to switch between different layouts, sending and reading in-meeting chats, and viewing your presentation as it appears to others. Googlenotes in its announcementthat resizing the popped-up window will be easier than before.
When the PiP window is active, you will get notifications for new messages, hand raises, and join requests. For everything else though, you’ll have to exit the windowed mode.
Google is taking advantage of the newDocument Picture-in-Picture API, which first debuted with Chrome 111, to deliver enhanced picture-in-picture capabilities in Google Meet. Sadly, this also means you must use Chrome to enjoy the improvements, as the API is not available on other browsers.
If you heavily rely on Google Meet for catching up with your colleagues and online meetings, these changes will make your life less miserable.
The new picture-in-picture capabilities in Google Meet are available to all Google Workspace and personal Google account holders. Google says the feature will be available to all by June 15, with the rollout starting on June 7.
